Ok thanks. I'll have a look through the code and if it's above my head I might have to still give stat tracking a try. Could work better for my scenario anyway.
EDIT: Yea that bit of code is a bit too complex for me to read and implement. I sorta understand what it's trying to do. So now follow up question. How would I get started calling stats from the vanilla stats from the escape menu to use them in a calculation for skill level and then of course I can use that as a parameter for my advancements or giving the recipes that way.